(I'm hoping to work out my home computer issues by next week. I know this is a pathetic excuse and yet this is all I have) so it's an abbreviated Today in History:July 22, 1934 -John Dillinger is shot dead outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre,on this date in history. And one of the most bizarre urban legends is born. According to the rumor, J Egdar Hoover, Pug ugly head of the FBI and notorious transvestite, rushes to Chicago to see the corpse himself. Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1, was a ladies man and was reported to be very specially endowed.

Hoover, after viewing the nude lifeless body of Dillinger in the morgue, orders Dillinger's member to be removed and preserved as a 'specimen' for his private files.

Rumors of Hoover's trophy dogged him for the rest of his life. He even went to the extraordinary step of stating sometime in the late '60's that he "did not now nor even have Dillinger's privates in a jar". His comments were not taken seriously as he was wearing a size 28 Dior outfit with matching handbag (and Raymond Burr Nipple Rouge) at the time.

The Smithsonian museum is still flooded with requests annually to view this 'special exhibition'.

Despite the troubles which reportedly took place on set, Tippi Hedren has stated that this is her favorite movie which she has appeared in.

At the time of his death in 1982, King Sobhuza II was the longest-reigning monarch in the world. His death also established him as the most recently-deceased monarch in the world. Today he is simply dead.

Sobhuza began his career as Paramount Chief of the Swazi in 1921, but was not recognized as king by Great Britain, which ran the nation as a protectorate, until 1967. (The forgetful Brits have a long history of failing to recognize kings, perhaps owing to the difficulty of seeing clearly in the London fog.)

The Brits wrote a Constitution before they left, but Sobhuza did not discover it until 1973, at which point he discarded it on the grounds of its being British. Five years later he implemented a better Constitution that, surprisingly enough, left all political power in his own hands.

He died in 1982. The Constitution declared that he should be succeeded by one of his children, which seemed simple at first but was complicated by the revelation of his having had over 600 children. (Apparently he had time on his hands for more than political power.) It took four years to find the right son, and King Mswati III has reigned ever since.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Regarding your post about Sir Walter Raleigh's founding of Roanoke: The photo you are using is grossly misidentified. What you are displaying is an image of Captain James Cook meeting the Nuu-chah-nulth people on western Vancouver Island.

Not to put too fine a point on this but the photo comes from the book "The pictorial history of the United States of America" by John Frost 1852, p 75. The original drawing was by W. Croome. If the book cited the wrong facts then I stand corrected.

Places I go to waste time while awaiting my death

About Me

1.) What is your idea of perfect happiness? - A cocktail party with my friends,
2.) What is your greatest fear? - One of the girls getting seriously injured,
3.) What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? - Impatience with others,
4.) What is the trait you most deplore in others? - Intentional lateness,
5.) Which living person do you most admire? - Jimmy Carter,
6.) What is your greatest extravagance? -
Finding the time to write,
7.) What is your current state of mind? -
Mild Elation with a hint of creeping dread,
8.) What do you consider the most overrated virtue? - Religious Piety,
9.) On what occasion do you lie? - To protect the feeling of others,
10.) What do you most dislike about your appearance? - My expanding waistline,
11.) Which living person do you most despise? - The current Majority Leader of the Senate,
12.) What is the quality you most like in a man? - Loyalty,
13) What is the quality you most like in a woman? - Ability to laugh spontaneously at my lame jokes,
14.) Which words or phrases do you most overuse? - Like,
15.) What or who is the greatest love of your life? - Besides my children, Mrs Mao (she knows who she is.)

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